Back To The 80s-Chapter 543 - 535: Trivial Matters_1

After hearing Wen Xiuqing’s words, Bai Xiaolan felt a bit worried. With so many people living together, it wouldn’t be a problem for a day or two, but over time, there would definitely be issues.

The problem Bai Xiaolan thought of, Ji Xiangdong also considered. After working for a year, he submitted an application for housing allocation to his unit. Many people were dissatisfied, some even had seven or eight family members living in small houses of forty or fifty square meters, Ji Xiangdong had only been there for a year and he already wanted a house, and his family even had a courtyard in the provincial capital.

Ji Xiangdong ignored these objections. His selflessness only applied to those in need, as long as it also guaranteed that his wife and child would live a carefree life.

The leaders saw that Ji Xiangdong’s rank was sufficient for housing allocation, his work was outstanding, and there were no houses under the couple’s name. Therefore, they approved joyfully. Now they were just waiting for a vacant house to become available so they could move.

During his free time, Ji Xiangdong asked his old comrades to help him find out about the identity of the young man on the train. Eventually, he sought Liu Hongbing to help him. When it came to intelligence networks, Liu Hongbing had a wider circle.

It was also during this time that Zhan Hezhi was exposed. His lifestyle was problematic; not only did he keep a mistress, but he also gave birth to a son while also being involved in corruption, taking bribes amounting to over ten thousand.

Of course, the person responsible for this exposure was Chen Qiumei. When Liao Qing saw that Chen Qiumei’s appetite was growing and she refused to give more money, she stubbornly insisted that she had no money, and was willing to let it be.

Chen Qiumei and her husband were anxious to return to H City. They didn’t have time to continue the stalemate with Liao Qing. They simply went to Zhan Hezhi’s house, sought Zhan Hezhi for clarification. Upon learning of this, Zhan Hezhi’s wife, Sister Tong, along with her relatives, smashed Liao Qing’s home.

Good news never leaves the house, whilst bad news travels a thousand miles. In less than a day, the whole City Government Complex knew about this matter.

Zhan Hezhi was arrested, and Liao Qing, holding her child, was driven out of the small courtyard.

Seeing that they could no longer benefit from this situation, Chen Qiumei and Gu Weimin took Liao Zhe back to H City.

When Gu Xiaobei heard Ji Xiangdong talk about this matter, he was a bit taken aback. Although he knew in advance that this would be the result, he did not expect that Chen Qiumei would cause such a big uproar.

...

As Xiaopang and Mo Wang kept asking about their father every day, time slipped into late August.

Lu Zhanguo had been out on a mission for over forty days, without any news.

Every day, Gu Xiaobei comforted himself that no news was the best news.

Early in the morning, Wen Xiuqing came to the family compound and asked Gu Xiaobei to come over for lunch.

"Do you have guests at home?" Gu Xiaobei curiously asked.

"Your elder sister-in-law’s aunt is arriving in the provincial capital today. Your elder brother went to pick her up. I am going to buy meat and thought I would tell you on the way." As she said this, Wen Xiuqing prepared to leave.

"We were there yesterday, I didn’t hear about it, did I?"

Wen Xiuqing paused, saying: "The Qi Family came over early this morning to tell us. He was supposed to go pick her up from the station, but there was some sudden emergency check and he couldn’t leave."

"Okay, I will change Xiaopang and Mo Wang’s clothes and come over in a moment." Gu Xiaobei said, seeing Wen Xiuqing downstairs.

Zhao Hongmei happened to be going out to throw the garbage and saw Gu Xiaobei. She smiled and said, "We went home for a while some time ago and brought back some local specialties for you, I will bring them over to you later."

Gu Xiaobei found it strange. He hadn’t seen Zhao Hongmei for a long time. He smiled and said courteously, "Thank you."

"You’re welcome. We are all neighbors. This time we went back because my younger brother, Honghe, was getting married. We left in a hurry and didn’t even tell the people in the courtyard." Zhao Hongmei said with a delighted expression.

"Congratulations, is your brother still working in his previous company?" Gu Xiaobei casually asked.

Zhao Hongmei nodded, "Yes, even his wife was introduced by their boss. Now he earns 150 a month, where else could you find such a good thing,"

Gu Xiaobei praised, "That’s indeed very good, if the couple save money, they will be able to buy a courtyard in two or three years."

"Exactly, for people like us, we can never save money. We can only live in government distributed houses. When we get old, we won’t even have our own house." Zhao Hongmei, holding the trash can, stood at the door ready for a long chat.

Mo Wang poked her head out of the door and shouted, "Mom, Xiaopang said she needs to poop!"

Zhao Hongmei quickly said, "You should go and take care of the kids, I will bring the stuffs over in a bit."

As soon as she entered the house, Gu Xiaobei saw Xiaopang running around the house with her pants down to her knees, incessantly shouting, "Mom, help me, I need to poop."

The bathroom in their house used a toilet pit. The children had short legs and couldn’t squat, so they used spittoons. They would pour a little water inside and put a piece of paper on top for the children to sit on.

Gu Xiaobei found spittoons distasteful; even when cleaned, they left an odor in the bathroom, so they were usually kept on the balcony.

With the balcony door closed, Xiaopang couldn’t get in and in her urgency, could only run around clutching her butt.

Gu Xiaobei, laughing, brought back the spittoon for Xiaopang, put it in the bathroom for her to handle the pressing matter at hand.

Zhao Hongmei was true to her word and immediately brought over local specialties and Erhu from her hometown.

"This is the shrimp skin produced in our place, and some dried plums. Our place is just small, and we don’t have many good things." Zhao Hongmei said with a smile.

"These are good things. You can’t even buy shrimp skin of this quality here. Thank you." Gu Xiaobei sincerely thanked her.

Zhao Hongmei sat down and pushed Erhu to go play with Mo Wang.

The three-and-a-half-year-old Erhu was now a bit introverted, standing shyly in front of Zhao Hongmei, not moving.

Zhao Hongmei said somewhat angrily, "Look at this kid, he’s like a dog meat bun, he can’t make it to the stage." After complaining, she said to Gu Xiaobei, "Xiaobei, I want to ask you for a favor."

Gu Xiaobei was a little surprised, "What is it?"

Zhao Hongmei hesitated for a while and said, "It’s about my husband’s situation."

"What can I do to help with Commissar Zeng’s situation?" Gu Xiaobei was even more confused. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"The day before yesterday when I came back, I heard my husband mentioned that there are two slots to study in Capital City this year, but someone needs to recommend and the leader needs to sign. It will be decided in a meeting. I thought when Lu Zhanguo comes back, could he help with this?" Zhao Hongmei said after thinking for a while.

It took Gu Xiaobei a moment to understand, "This matter isn’t under Lu Zhanguo’s jurisdiction, right? Besides, aren’t they on the same level? Will his recommendation be useful?"

So, the two packs of specialties were meant to be bribes.

Zhao Hongmei said, "Can you ask Lu Zhanguo then? Even if he doesn’t care, can he still speak a good word for my husband?"

"I don’t understand this matter, and I can’t make decisions. Also, Lu Zhanguo has been out on a mission and hasn’t come back yet." Gu Xiaobei said helplessly.

Zhao Hongmei, however, misinterpreted Gu Xiaobei’s words. She smiled and said, "It’s okay, we’re not in a hurry."

Xiaopang shouted from the bathroom, "Mom, I’m done, time to wipe my butt!"

After Gu Xiaobei cleaned up Xiaopang, she prepared to change clothes for the two children and go to the small courtyard.

Zhao Hongmei tactfully led Erhu back home, and in order not to owe her any favors, Gu Xiaobei gave Zhao Hongmei two cans of food.